Ex-CEO to buy assets of bankrupt Mpls. coin firm

The former CEO of International Rarities Corp. (IRC) Thursday got the go-ahead to buy the bankrupt Minneapolis coin company's customer lists and furnishings.

Stephen J. Hastings, who operates Fidelity Gold & Silver, must come up with $30,500. If he doesn't, the bankruptcy trustee will sell the company's few remaining assets to Dana Golden, the ex-wife of the company's owner, David Marion.

Golden, of Excelsior, created a company called Golden Coin & Collectibles, which bid $30,000 for IRC's assets.

Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel said at a hearing Thursday that he'd approve the asset sale. Marion did not attend.

Hastings said Thursday that he and Marion have severed their business relationship, and that Marion is working now through Golden Coin, which was created just days after IRC filed for bankruptcy protection 13 months ago. He declined further comment.

IRC sought to reorganize its debts in August 2011 after the Star Tribune reported allegations by some customers that Marion had sold shares in a failed expansion effort under false pretenses. Marion stepped down as CEO and hired Hastings, of Eden Prairie, to run IRC in bankruptcy.

The FBI raided IRC's offices last September and seized business records, computers and some coins on suspicion of fraud. The investigation remains active. No one has been charged with a crime.

In January, Kressel appointed a trustee to run the company, citing "gross mismanagement." He ordered its liquidation in mid-July.